Science, Empire and the European Exploration of the Pacific

Abstract

Contents: Introduction. Part 1 Visions of the Pacific: 'South Sea' to 'Pacific Ocean', O.H.K Spate Mercator's southern continent: its origins, influence and gradual demise, W.A.R. Richardson Shared vision: Herman Moll and his circle and the Great South Sea, Dennis Reinhartz. Part 2 The Imperial Sciences Of Exploration: Finding the way home: Spanish exploration of the round-trip route across the Pacific Ocean, Harry Kelsey 18th century science and the voyages of discovery, J.C. Beaglehole A Royal Society appointment with Venus in 1769: the voyage of Cook and Banks in the Endeavour, 1768-71 and its botanical results, William T. Stearn The ship as a scientific instrument in the 18th century, Richard Sorrenson Banks, Bligh and breadfruit, David Mackay Scientific books and instruments for an 18th-century voyage around the world: Antonio Pineda and the Malaspina expedition, Barbara G. Beddall Of fish and men: Spanish marine science during the late 18th century, Iris H. Wilson Engstrand The search for a sea passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific via North America's coast: on the history of a scientific competition, Alexei V. Postnikov. Part 3 Cultural Contact, Comparison And Classification: (En)-countering knowledge traditions: the story of Cook and Tupaia, David Turnbull 'Le President des Terres Australes': Charles de Brosses and the French enlightenment beginnings of oceanic anthropology, Tom Ryan Seamen and philosophers in the South Seas in the age of Captain Cook, Glyndwr Williams Melanesians and Polynesians: ethnic typifications inside and outside anthropology, Nicholas Thomas The 'oriental renaissance' in the Pacific: orientalism, language and ethnogenesis in the British Pacific, Tony Ballantyne Minute particulars and the representation of South Pacific discovery, Jonathan Lamb. Index.